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Place dossier plate
SheetAK-KOTZEBUE-AK · Kotzebue, AK 3,046 pop · income 81st pct · 2 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Kotzebue
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Kotzebue on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Cuthbert · lowest
21,061
Cuthbert · lowest
21,061 median HH income
14.0% of the leader · rank #1
Erlands Point · near
106,313
Erlands Point · near
106,313 median HH income
70.7% of the leader · rank #2
Alger · near
106,318
Alger · near
106,318 median HH income
70.7% of the leader · rank #3
Basehor · near
106,325
Basehor · near
106,325 median HH income
70.7% of the leader · rank #4
Kotzebue · this city
106,328
Kotzebue · this city
106,328 median HH income
70.7% of the leader · rank #5
Lochsloy · near
106,328
Lochsloy · near
106,328 median HH income
70.7% of the leader · rank #6
Cornwall-on-H… · highest
150,288
Cornwall-on-H… · highest
150,288 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Kotzebue on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 3,046.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Kotzebue places in the 81st percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
81st
percentile, household income
59th
percentile, home value
70th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Kotzebue, AK
Kotzebue is a small town in Alaska, home to 3,046 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $106,328 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 11.6%. Typical homes in Kotzebue are valued around $264,500, and the median resident age is 31.0 years. Educational attainment runs 20.0% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 65.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 3 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 40% from five years earlier.
Alaska tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: the state registers 102.4 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Near Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,467 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $271 across Alaska, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 35.2 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Kotzebue's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from comparison shortlist to within-city variation to population change to work and mobility to schools and households to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Kotzebue, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Kotzebue?
Within Alaska, the closest population matches are Eielson AFB (3,133 residents, $59,716 income); Farm Loop (2,940 residents, $110,332 income); Goldstream (3,238 residents, $92,604 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY (3,046 residents); Cuthbert, GA (3,045 residents); Cache, OK (3,045 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
Is Kotzebue growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -223 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -7.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 3 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What does the journey to work look like in Kotzebue?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Walking is the largest reported mode at 42.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Kotzebue?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 20.0% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
3
Bachelor's degree+
20.0%
Poverty estimate
11.6%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Kotzebue?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
Household income
$106,328
Home value
$264,500
Value / income
2.5×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
High income · poverty 11.6% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
102.4 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Alaska average
D
City profile score · Kotzebue, AK
47/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Household income A-
$106,328
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
20.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
11.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living F
102.4 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Kotzebue profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 80/100 (A-) · $106,328
Bachelor's+ share: 34/100 (F) · 20.0%
Poverty rate: 33/100 (F) · 11.6%
Cost of living: 29/100 (F) · 102.4 index
How does Kotzebue compare to other US cities?
Kotzebue measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income81% higher than other cities
Home value59% pricier than other cities
Median rent70% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Kotzebue against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Alaska only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Alaska-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Kotzebue near the bottom of Alaska's cities
Among the 228 Alaska cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Kotzebue ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Kotzebue only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#15 of 215
93rd percentile in Alaska
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 228
0th percentile in Alaska
Median Home Value
#74 of 200
63rd percentile in Alaska
Poverty Rate
#98 of 225
56th percentile in Alaska
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#96 of 228
58th percentile in Alaska
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Alaska only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
81st percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Kotzebue's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$264,50041st percentilemore affordable than 41% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Kotzebue's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,936 of 15,516
More affordable than 75% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,550 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.5×, Kotzebue sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,936 of 15,516 and #3,550 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$106,328Kotzebue, AK median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Kotzebue, AK median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Kotzebue, AK.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)20.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)65.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,046
Median Income
$106,328
Median Home Value
$264,500
Median Age
31.0
Poverty Rate
11.6%
Labor force participation
65.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
20.0%
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Kotzebue's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,099 residents
2021
3,034 residents
2022
2,965 residents
2023
2,942 residents
2024
2,892 residents
2025
2,876 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
3
housing units authorized
Single-Family
3
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
5
5
0
$1.5M
2020
10
10
0
$2.7M
2021
8
8
0
$1.0M
2022
7
7
0
$1.3M
2023
5
5
0
$0.8M
2024
3
3
0
$0.5M
Permit volume decreased 40% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
21.3%
Carpool
17.6%
Public Transit
2.1%
Walk
42.3%
Work from Home
5.5%
Other
11.2%
Based on 1,411 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Alaska statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $271
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Alaska at $271 (electricity about $131 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Alaska statewide averages, not a meter reading for Kotzebue. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Alaska's BEA cost-of-living index is 102.4 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Kotzebue is $1,467/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Alaska statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 35.2 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Alaska statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Kotzebue sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Kotzebue compares to similar-size Alaska cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.